Marty Havlat: ‘I just have to get in and try to be helpful. Every game right now to the end is very important’

Starting tonight, the Sharks get to show us what they really bring to the party.

With Marty Havlat back in the lineup, San Jose has the Top Six forwards they expected to have from the start. With Havlat out since being injured on Dec. 17 and surgery four days later to repair a partly torn left hamstring, it’s been a Top Five with nightly auditions.

And through the ordeal of the last 20 games (5-11-4), behind-the-scenes word has been “we’ll be in good shape once Marty gets back.”

So does Havlat himself feel any extra pressure returning to action against Nashville tonight after missing the last 40 games?

“No pressure,” he said. “I’m going to do my best. I’m trying to do that every night like everybody else.”

Not that he doesn’t realize the challenge facing the Sharks as they fight for a spot in the post-season.

“We know what the situation is, how basically every game right now is a playoff game,” Havlat said. “Every point is very important and we’re playing a great team. It’s not going to be easy.”

And he knows it won’t be easy to return to action at a time when the games are a lot more intense than they were in December, the last time he played.

“Everything is a challenge basically when you come back from a long injury. Everybody is going 100 miles an hour,” he said. “I just have to get in and try to be helpful. Every game right now to the end is very important.”

Havlat will start the game on a line with Patrick Marleau and Ryane Clowe and get time on the second power-play unit, but Todd McLellan indicated he’ll be watching Havlat closely. Minutes will be managed and lines will be adjusted if necessary. The fact that Havlat is penciled in as a Top Six forward doesn’t mean he’s a lock to stay there.

“You can pencil and color in crayons all you want. It’s what happens when you get on the ice, how effective they are,” McLellan siad. “We have to keep an eye on Marty and making sure he’s finding a way to contribute. And if he’s not, we have to find somebody to put their quickly and let him work his way in.”

Havlat had an impressive start to the season with eight points in his first seven games after missing four while he still recuperated from shoulder surgery. He then hit a dry spell with only five points in his next 16 games before getting back on track with a goal and two assists in his two games before injuring his hamstring tendon Dec. 17 when he fell awkwardly over the boards coming onto the ice.

So what are the signs McLellan will be looking for to see which Marty Havlat is back?

“When he’s skating he’s an effective guy,” the coach said. “He’s always been a very creative guy, being able to slow the play down and find open people, and when he gets to certain areas, things really happen for him. When he’s going to the puck, when he’s in and around the net, he scores a lot of points and goals that way.”

The timing of Havlat’s return works in San Jose’s favor. For whatever reason — and he said he didn’t know why — he’s had success scoring against the Predators with 37 points in 30 games over his career.

Nashville, of course, is up there with the Western Conference elite this season, 11 points ahead of the Sharks. And at least one element of their game adds to Havlat’s challenge, McLellan said.

“This team tonight can really skate,” he said. “They play the game fast and he’ll have to integrate himself quickly.”

“We know what kind of player Marty is and we’ve seen that when he was in the lineup. We played really well with him in,” Thornton said. “We’re going to feel like we’ve got a lot of depth now. Hopefully he can chip in when he can.”

The Sharks did play well with Havlat in the lineup — 16-7-3 — even when he wasn’t always contributing offensively.

Clowe said he was happy for Havlat as well as the team as a whole.

“Good to see Marty back,” Clowe said. “He’s missed a lot of time and I’ve been in his shoes before. I’m sure he’s awfully excited to be back. I’m sure he’ll be fired up and that’ll be good for us – good for our line, too, with me and Patty. We’re excited.

“Marty’s a creative player,” Clowe added. “We can use every goal we can right now and Marty creates chances.”

*****If the Sharks are going to turn themselves into not only a playoff team but one that can actually accomplish something once there, now’s the time to start. San Jose has six of its next seven games at home.

“We know we’ve got a couple games in hand and we have to win those games and take care of our own business,” Clowe said. “We’ve got to get some consistency and have a streak going at home anyway. That’s something we haven’t had all year. Just get on a hot streak at home. We’re looking forward to this.”

The first two games, of course, are against Nashville and Detroit. No offense to Calgary, Phoenix or Dallas — teams that all beat the Sharks on their latest road trip — but the competition does get stiffer.

“Yeah it’s a good challenge for us right now to take on two of these good teams right now at home and hopefully pull off a couple of wins,” Clowe said. “It’d be a great way to get back to where we need to be.

“I’m not looking past tonight,” he added, “but, yeah, it’s two solid teams that are going to be in the playoffs and we need to prove why we think we’re just as good or better.”

*****The Sharks will be without Tommy Wingels, who left the ice with an upper body injury and didn’t return in the third period against Edmonton, for a second game.

Wingels was on the ice today for the first time since then, but said he wasn’t ready to get back in the lineup.

So was today a big step on the road to returning or just a test.

“A little bit of both,” Wingels said. “Better than where I thought it would be.”

Does he have a sense of how long he’ll be out?

“Nope,” he said. “We’ll see how everything reacts to treatment and go from there, but I don’t know how long.”

Wingels said the damage started on a play when he was taken into the boards.

“Started with rush up the ice where I got pinched off. I think it was (Andy) Sutton,” Wingels said. “I kept going and then I hit Burnzie for that opportunity up front. That’s where it started. Then another play in the third, where it just worsened.”

*****It’ll be Antti Niemi in net for the Sharks vs. Nashville’s Pekka Rinne.

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.

Well, we are right there on the bubble. Still have 2-3 games in hand on most teams we compete against.
Detroit coming off two straight losses = we are in for a tough tough game on Saturday.

Stevo

Sharks stopped their slide and were at the bottom for the last few games, and perhaps the turnaround was tonight.

Buddy Elf with the koolaid stand. Nice.

Make it a double for me!

SCSharksFan

Yep… Saturday is gonna be brutal…

Stevo

MLFBS: “Great job Niemi”

MLFBS nearly speechless.

THANK YOU Sharks!

Alex

3 points behind Dallas with one game in hand and 2 games remaining between the teams. Come on, Sharks, we HAVE to catch them.

Stevo

Waaaaaaaaaay past my bedtime..

Bon nuit mes amis!

g-bum-man

That was a great game. Fun to watch. Even if the Sharks had lost, it would have been a good game. The Sharks executed, and mixed up the attack–FINALLY!!! And played good defense. Braun is turning into a stud.

Nemo spelled backwards is “omen”. Could this win portend the coming of a hot streak for Antti and the boys?

Time to get mean and nasty against the Wings–Go Sharks!

SCSharksFan

Man… just looking at how much TMac’s hair has changed since he started… almost completely gray now… and cold sores… stress must be seriously getting to him… don’t envy him one bit…

Seriously? When Carlyle was hired by the Leafs, the hc salary quoted on Hockey Night in Canada was $1.5 M per year.

SCSharksFan

Slappy –

I realize Toronto is even more stressful, but that wasn’t my point… just amazed at how fast McLellan has gone gray…

Martin Brody

IMO Justin Braun played a good game.

Hatrick Marleau

Woo!!! Sharks Win!!! Great game all-around. They let up a little in the 3rd. Marty Havlat played a good game for his first game back. Boyle has the moves like Jagr. A banged up Detroit team is up next.

GO SHARKS!!!

slappy

Great win by the Sharks! A very exciting game. Nemo flashed the leather and stayed on his feet the whole night thru. Hope hes got his mojo back. Really liked Marleaus line. Was glad to see that our 2nd line was allowed to be an offensive line tonight.

Beer League

Wow, all the good vibes in here. Hopefullness. Not doom and gloom. Just took one win against a good team. Sounds like people are drinking the kool aid. Hope you made a lot, Buddy Elf.

Hatrick Marleau

MLBSF,

Not so talkative tonight, eh.?!

Beer League

Ryan Holmes,
you can find the answer in the archives of WTC.

Rose

Was at the game tonight with friends…..AWESOME!!! Nemo was great, scary last 10 minutes of regulation, but fantastic effort by the team. THANK YOU SHARKS!!! Oh, and I thought Havlat was really good for being out for so long. GREAT WIN SHARKS!!!!

It was a 3 pointer, but yer welcome nolimits….it’ll be a great game Saturday!

Rose

Beer League: 😉

Beer League

Rose,
LOL

Shark Fin

Niemi finally played big. Who knew Marty would be the one stirring the pot tonight. Sharks need someone to muck it up to get them emotionally into games.

I like wins. I’ll take them. Sharks still not scoring. Joe stil passing backwards and not going to the net with the puck- drives me crazy.

Braun played well. Logan laid it on the line again. In the first two periods felt like I was watching the future Sharks leaders (Logan, Braun, Pickles).

We seem to get up for the Red Wings so it might as well be them next. Hopefully Sharks can make me eat my words that ‘Nashville and Detroit will mercifully finish them off”.

Docking

docking always wins

KnightPucky

Finally Niemi looked solid….and we won! yay! now if we can find ways to win without giving the other team a point….

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